Cryptocurrency provides fix for some in crisis-hit Afghanistan

HERAT: In the middle of a bazaar in western Afghanistan, Arezo Akrimi took out her smartphone and, after a few taps of the screen, changed some cryptocurrency for a bundle of hard cash.

Since the Taliban returned last August, Afghanistan's economy has virtually collapsed, and the country is in the grip of a crisis caused by the seizure of billions of dollars of assets held abroad. Code to Inspire was founded to teach computer programming to women in Herat, but its high-tech approach is now also helping students get funds in the economically deprived nation.

"Crypto is an incredible way to overcome all kinds of political and economic sanctions, but also a tool that can change the lives of people living in an authoritarian regime," said the American, whose parents fled Afghanistan in the 1980s. While the momentum is growing, the volume of cryptocurrency trading in Afghanistan remains very low, and will remain so due to the lack of Internet access and high levels of illiteracy in the country, one expert said. Beyond this humanitarian initiative, cryptocurrencies are gaining other followers in Herat, according to forex dealer Hamidullah Temori.

Transfers are instantaneous and commissions are much lower than transactions made through Western Union or hawala, the over-the-counter system traditionally favoured by Afghans.The young man, who started exporting saffron to the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada in early 2021, now has 90 per cent of his orders paid for in Bitcoin."Since August, it has really become the only option available, and the most convenient for me.

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